Guardians of the Galaxy 2: Green-Skinned Mantis Concept Art Revealed

Some new concept art of Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has made its way online, showcasing one of the early designs for the character. There is no denying that James Gunn's highly-anticipated sequel certainly upped the ante and the roster of heroes in the sequel to 2014 superhero sci-fi adventure. With a huge opening weekend and largely positive reviews, it seems that tinkering with the formula on Awesome Mixtape Vol. 2 has certainly paid off for the MCU.

New additions included Kurt Russell as the nefarious Ego, a tease of Sylvester Stallone's Starhawk, and even David Hasselhoff providing some rap vocals and a cameo. However, easily one of the best recruits was Pom Klementieff's Mantis, who won us over with her bright outlook on even the darkest of situations. As we head into a new era of the Guardians and possibly uniting with an older era, it looks like Mantis will be sticking around for the foreseeable future.

As reported by CosmicBookNews, the upcoming Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: the Art of the Movie will showcase a variety of ideas, the thought process that went into crafting the film, and most importantly, a green Mantis. There are several different designs for the character included, however, they all stick with the green theme.

Seamlessly slipping into the team like she had been there all along, Klementieff got some of the sequel's biggest laughs alongside Dave Bautista's Drax. However, while we got a toned down Mantis in Gunn's film, sporting her glowing antennae poking out of lighter skin, the character originally had a very different look.

First appearing in The Avengers #112 in 1973, the original Mantis looked not too dissimilar to the final product we got in Vol. 2. However, it was a green-skinned Mantis who joined the Guardians in the 2008 comic series, and with this being what the films are based on, you can see where the inspiration has come from. Elsewhere, some designs show a heavily-tattooed version of Mantis that would've further added to the alien feel, when the antennae seem to have been just enough.

We don't know why they went with a different color palette, but with Zoe Saldana's Gamora looking mean in green, perhaps Marvel wanted to differentiate between the two women further. Also, Mantis from the comics does eventually turn green, so who knows, we could still see Klementieff's color change in the MCU.

While the Mantis we actually got was only wearing green, there is no denying that the concept art would certainly be a more colorful addition. We know that Klementieff will return for the recently-announced Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 and will be popping by for a word with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, so time will tell what the future has in store for her in the MCU.